Pregnancy is a very special time in your life. You’re not on your own anymore, there is another human being, sharing your body. Who cannot yet exist without your body. Who is utterly dependent on you and will be for the next 20 years. Pregnant women are acutely aware of this responsibility. Taking folic acid, before pregnancy, no smoking, no alcohol drinking, healthy eating all become very important. You and our partner want what is best for your child.
And of course you will make a first appointment with the midwife or obstetrician. In esspecially most European countries midwives are the professionals to call first when you are pregnant. Midwives are trained to counsel and support you during your pregnancy, to help you during labor and afterwards to support you making the transition from couple without children to young family.
Midwives also perform medical tasks such as measuring blood pressure and examine you. The aim is to detect and solve problems in time and, if necessary, to refer a woman to an ob/gyn for further examiniation. Nowadays pregnancy and birth are often framed as potential risks instead of normal life events. This makes many women very insecure. For your grandmothers pregnancy and birth were almost taken for granted after the wedding. It was considered normal. It happened to her. And of course she could handle it.